Data Farming, not Data Mining

Apart from repeating the marketing urban legend about beer and diapers, this blog posting over on metrist.com was terrific. I love the "data farming" meme! Here's a snippet:

"Beer and diapers" was a classic nugget from data mining. For all its hype, there wasn't much there to benefit from.

In mining, you extract a hunk of something that is either durable and non-reactive, or burns for a short time. Plus, you have lots of tailings to throw out. It's not self-sustaining or pretty.

Personally, I don't want to mine. I want to do something valuable and sustainable.

Here's an alternative paradigm: data farming. In farming, you start from a seed or an immature plant, place it in an appropriate growth medium, and tend it with nutrients. Crops, and perhaps seeds for the next cycle, repay your efforts.

You also have a centuries-old tradition of testing and variation from which to improve yields over time, and reduce wasted effort and excess fertilizer. This cycle of planting, nurturing, harvesting, and learning is how less than 2% of our population now feeds the rest of America, and beyond.

I contend that we should look at direct marketing analysis as data farming, and to use the metaphor to justify (with ample support) investments that will pay off marketing cycle after marketing cycle.